Familial Mate
by BlackMoonQueen
Summary: Emmet and Bella spend some time together and he helps Bella sleep through the night by keeping her nightmares at bay, because sometimes a big brother is better than a Mate at making you feel safe. Set after the Italy fiasco and rated T for very mild language. Ever so slight AU/OOC.


**Disclaimer:** The Twilight Saga belongs to Stephanie Meyers. This is purely for non-profit fun. I also don't own Disney.

**A/N:** Full of sibling affection. Emmet and Bella take the chance to catch up and bond again over a weekend alone together while the rest of the Cullens's go hunting. NOT a romance fic between them both, very Canon compliant on that front, but full of love and affection all the same. May be multi-chapter but for now it's a one-shot.

0o0o0o0

Screams suddenly tore through the peaceful air in the Cullen household and 6 pairs of feet flew up the stairs to discover the source of Bella's terror.

"What is it, Love? What's wrong?" Edward demanded, kneeling beside the bed as his human girlfriend sat bolt upright, her eyes wide and wild as they searched each of the faces now in the bedroom, noticing one absent vampire.

"Rosalie, is Rosalie alive too?" she panted heavily, grabbing onto Edward's shirt as tightly as she could.

"She's downstairs. We're all safe Bella, we're all here." Edward soothed, running his hand over her damp forehead. She sagged down into the pillows at his reassurance.

"Oh Thank God, Thank God…You're all safe…" she whispered breathlessly, her eyes already drooping closed again and her heart slowing from it's staccato rhythm.

"Nightmares…" Carlisle murmured. "I'll get her something tomorrow to help her sleep." The rest of the family traipsed out until only Edward remained by Bella's sleeping side. He stroked her hair and whispered calming words of love through the rest of the night, never faltering in his endeavour to help her sleep easily. Occasionally she would let out a whimper, gripping the comforter while her body tensed from some unknown attack in her mind until at last morning came and she woke disoriented.

"How are you Love?" Edward asked softly, brushing his fingertips along the shadows under her eyes.

"Better with you here." she replied, smiling gently and closing her eyes in satisfaction at his closeness. "I'm sorry I disturbed you all last night…" she mumbled, blushing bright red in her embarrassment.

"It's alright. Carlisle will get you something that will help you sleep. Do you want me to stay home this weekend instead of hunting?"

"No, you haven't fed recently. I'll be fine Edward, don't worry." Bella smiled, mimicking his earlier movements and lightly tracing the shadows under is dark eyes with concern and love.

0o0o0

"Take two of these an hour before you go to bed sweetheart, they'll help you sleep." Carlisle instructed. The entire family, minus Emmet, were going for a weekend long hunting trip. Emmet had opted to stay behind, more than happy to Bella-sit and catch up with the little sister he had missed so much in their months apart.

"Thank you again Carlisle. Have a good weekend all of you, hope the hunting is good." Bella smiled.

"It will be." Alice grinned with surety, tapping her head knowingly.

"Are you **sure** you don't want me to stay Bella? I don't mind in the slightest." Edward stressed again, holding her warm hands to his cold chest. She let out a soft sigh.

"I'm sure Edward. It's not healthy for us to be so co-dependant on each other; if I learnt nothing else from our…time apart…I learnt that. Emmet and I will be fine here; in fact I plan on thoroughly beating him in some video games." Bella assured him with a smile. In all honesty she was dreading their time apart but there was truth in her words; being so co-dependent wasn't healthy. They had to learn to do things apart from one another for a few days. She was also looking forward to spending the weekend with Emmet since her dad was fishing for the weekend. With Jacob still not talking to her and Victoria still out there, she didn't relish the idea of being in her house alone for 3 days. Alice had pulled a few strings with Charlie and told a few white lies, asking for Bella to sleepover and assuring the Chief of Police that Edward was away on a camping trip. She just left out the fact that the sleepover was with Emmet and not **her**.

"I'll see you in a few days. Ring me to come back sooner if you need me though." Edward implored. Bella nodded obediently and gave him a chaste kiss. With one last longing look, Edward was out the door and running with the rest of the family.

"So what d'ya want to do now then sis?" Emmet grinned, ruffling Bella's hair affectionately.

"You have another screen and console in your room don't you?" Bella asked. When Emmet bobbed his head in affirmation she continued. "Bring it down then. We can both play against each other. I got some practice in the last few months, bet I can kick your ass before you get the hang of what the controls do." She grinned, whipping out two identical games from her bag.

"You play video games? I never knew you play video games!" Emmet looked at her open mouthed.

"I missed you, playing them made me feel close to you even when you weren't around." She admitted, shuffling her feet uncomfortably until she was swept up into one of Emmet's trademark bear hugs.

"I missed you too Bellsy-Bear." He whispered with a voice choked with emotion.

"Come on, don't set me off crying or I'll never stop. We're together again now and that's what matters." Bella mumbled, squeezing him close before freeing herself from his grasp and blinking away the tears that threatened. "Now go move the stuff and be quick about it. I'm going to grab some snacks." She smiled, reaching up to give him a peck on the cheek before walking to the kitchen.

In no time at all Bella and Emmet were sitting side by side on a super-sized beanbag creating their characters; their games connected by the internet so that they could play with and against each other.

"I am so gonna beat you, I've spent months on this game memorizing the tasks and exploring the different paths and caves." Bella said with confidence.

"Ah but you forget to take into account that I am a vampire and as such have an eidetic memory. I'll soon catch on don't you worry." He teased back, bumping her shoulder gently.

"Pfft, whatever Emmy-Bear. I know for a fact you haven't played this one, I checked with Edward. I have the upper hand." She stuck her tongue out childishly before the voice-over in the game gave the intro. "Shhhh, I love this bit." She hushed Emmet when he began to make a retort. He smiled down at the human, his little sister in every sense but blood. _"It's good to be home." _He thought contentedly, submersing himself into the game as Bella had.

0o0o0

"You did not beat me!" Bella declared hotly, though there was no real anger in her voice.

"I did so, I did the most quests!"

"And my character is more powerful, I have the most magic items!"

"Yeah but I have the most money." Emmet pointed out.

"Only because you ransacked a village. Your character is evil for that, at least what I got was earned honestly." Bella huffed.

"Well you didn't say the characters had to be morally pure." He smirked. "We can always battle it out in-game. See who survives in a fight."

"I already told you Em; we **can't** kill each other. The characters just re-spawn. It's what I like about the game."

"Well…battle till the first re-spawn then?" He pouted, pleading her with oh-so-innocent eyes. She rolled her own.

"Fine. But if I win you have to eat cheesecake."

"And if I win?"

"I have to eat the whole thing myself." She declared.

"That's hardly a forfeit. I thought you humans liked food?"

"Take a whiff, does it smell good to you?" Bella held up the cheesecake to him and he scrunched his nose in disgust.

"It smells foul…" He admitted.

"There we go. If you win I'm punished by eating the whole thing." Bella grinned, offering her hand to shake and seal the bet. Emmet hesitantly shook it and picked his controller again, Bella copying his movements and smirking to herself knowing she won whatever the outcome.

0o0o0

"That was vile." Emmet heaved on the porch. The slice of cheesecake he'd had to eat sitting badly in his stomach.

"What, losing to a girl? Yeah I bet that is a pretty big dent on your ego." Bella teased, spooning another mouthful of the creamy desert into her mouth. "Suck it up loser, I could have made you eat the whole thing." She pointed out. Another groan from Emmet drew her sympathy. "Aww, come here Emmy-Bear. Lets watch a dvd or something, I'll even let you choose the film." She cooed, rubbing his back gently. He nodded and made his way back inside. "I never knew vampires could actually be sick. Do you want to go grab a deer or something to wash the taste out your mouth? I'll be alright on my own for half an hour…" Bella suggested when the two of them were back inside the house.

"Nah I'll be fine. It's my own fault for agreeing to it." Emmet grinned, back to his own self. "Now it's out my system I'll be fine. It just tasted so darn awful." He winced, picking a dvd and pushing it into the player.

"Beauty and the Beast? I let you choose the dvd and this is seriously what you go for?" Bella asked, looking at him sideways as he sat down beside her and the menu came up.

"What? It's a beautiful film! Anyway, Rose and the guys take the micky when I want to watch it." He admitted, curling his legs up and pulling Bella against his chest before settling a thick quilt around them, as they got comfortable.

"Whose is it then?"

"Alice's. She's actually a closet Disney fan. I'd be surprised if she didn't have all the princess dresses actually. She has all the films."

"Hmm… I can actually see her as a Disney fan. D'ya want to watch Mulan after this one?"

"Sure." The large vampire grinned, nuzzling her hair with his nose. "It's good to be back Bells. I missed ya."

"Missed you too Em." She said softly, wrapping his arms around stomach just as the film began.

0o0o0

After 2 more dvds and an obscene amount of snacks being hand-fed to her by her vampire brother, Bella was finally beginning to doze off in the early hours of the morning.

"Did you remember to take the tablets Carlisle gave you?" Emmet whispered, running his finger's through Bella's hair gently

"Mmhmm, during my bathroom break." She mumbled against his chest. They had shifted so that she was curled against his chest with a hot water bottle he had thoughtfully prepared to keep her warm against his cold body, despite the layers of clothing and the thick duck-down quilt she had wrapped around her. "Night sis. Love you" He pressed a kiss to her forehead and turned the sound down on the television before picking up his controller so that he could play a game while she slept.

"Night Em. Love you too." She sighed before her breathing turned deep as she fell asleep. He smiled down at her. Between Edward and the rest of the family Emmet hadn't been able to spend as much time with Bella as he'd have liked since their return a few weeks ago. Rose was still jealous of the human, so he was unable to cuddle her warm body like this while his mate was around, and when Edward was around he was too protective to allow Bella to be so 'fragile' around his burly big brother. Emmet snorted softly to himself as his thoughts turned to that. Besides Carlisle, Emmet thought Bella was probably safer around him that any of the others. Edward was constantly on guard in case the lure of her blood became too strong, and though Jasper had better control of his bloodlust than people gave him credit for, his downfall was feeling the entire family's bloodlust all of the time; that was the problem at the fateful birthday party, though Edward still pigheadedly refused to accept that as an excuse. Alice and Esme still felt sensitive to blood and though Emmet admitted he did too, the thought of losing his Bella was enough to drive the thirst away. More than once he wondered if it was possible to have two soul mates; Rosie being his romantic other half and Bella being his familial other half, just the thought of losing Bella caused him as much pain as the thought of being without his Rose.

The night passed quietly and Bella slept through, snuggled safely against Emmet who kept the nightmares at bay mearly with his presence. It was the first time in months she had slept peacefully and when she woke in the morning she knew it was Emmet's influence. She had missed her big brother, and having him close again made her feel secure in the knowledge that nothing would hurt her or them. She kept the fact that she hadn't **actually** taken the sleeping pills, to herself. She would however save them for nights when she had to sleep without Emmet nearby. It would be her little secret…and possibly Alice's if the pixie found out in her visions.


End file.
